SuperSplinters: Budget panormics with a 110 look

Let's face it, you want a Horizon camera, but you can't afford it. You want a Diana mini for its economic half frame design, but you lack the money for that as well. Got a Supersampler? Good. Let's kill 2 birds with one camera!

I’ve had an eye on the Horizon Perfekt ever since I discovered Lomography. Who hasn’t? Panoramic photography is just that cool. Throw in that nifty little swing lens action and You’ve got me drooling. Unfortunately, I’ve never had an extra $500 dollars lying around… except for that one time, but then I decided I should actually pay my rent.

Next up on that big list of ‘wants’ is the Diana Mini. A camera that can get over 70 photos on one roll of film: That’s just Economics 101 in a nutshell. But financially, there’s never really been the right time for me to buy (read: I’m too cheap).

Luckily for me, my first Lomo camera was the Supersampler. So here’s my solution to making your four-eyed friend into the world’s most economic panoramic camera!

WHATYOUWILLNEED

SuperSampler Camera

a sharp knife

foam board (thick cardboard will work as well)

tape (black electrical tape is probably best)

a suitable cutting surface

35mm film

ASSEMBLY

The SuperSplinter setup for the Supersampler is extremely easy to do. It requires no long term modifications to your camera.

Step 1

Cut THREE pieces of foam board to fit inside each of the SuperSampler’s four frames. Be careful making sure they fit, they can become stuck or too much force can be applied and things break. Also, be sure to be careful with the knife (for your finger’s and camera’s sake).

DO NOT place the pieces of foam board fully into the camera yet… they are very hard to retrieve.

Step 2

Cut ONE piece of electrical tape to the length of the THREE foam board pieces placed end to end.

Cut that piece of tape into THREE strips lengthwise.
Do this step on that previously mentioned suitable cutting surface (your mother really likes that coffee table)

Step 3

Assuming you are not missing any fingers or are being scolded by your mother, it’s time to put the tape and the foam board together.

Place the end of ONE strip of tape on the center of ONE piece of foam board both running lengthwise.

Wrap the tape around the foam board WITHOUT touching the top side of the foam board.

Overlap the ends of the tape and begin to adhere it to the foam board from BOTH sides at once.

An excess of tape should have formed in the center now. Pinch the tape together to create a tab.

Repeat 2 more times.

This is not the only way to place the tape. Most importantly, the tape must wrap around the foam board.

Step 4

Place your foam board light blocking mechanisms into 3 of the 4 frames of the SuperSampler. They should fit in quite tightly but should not make the frames bulge. Be sure they go in flat. Press the tape tabs down. They don’t need to lay flat but shouldn’t stick up too far.

Step 5

It’s time to load your film.

Place your film roll in normally.

spin the take up reel so that one of the ‘sprocket grabbers’ is facing straight up.

pull the film lead the black arrow on the yellow bar and let the film fall onto the reel. (remember this position)

Gently close the loading door.

SHOOTING

Step 1

Shoot through that roll. Don’t dare to think, you have at least another 70 photos to shoot once you’re done with this step.

Step 2

Once you’ve hit the end of the roll, rewind. Slow down when you get into the single digits and listen for the take up wheel to pop as it releases the film. Open the back and move your light blocker over one frame. Place your film lead back into its previously determined position.

Step 3

Repeat shooting steps 1 and 2 until you have shot on all 4 lenses

PROCESSING

Take your film in to you nearest lab. It’s hard enough to get proper prints when shooting on the SuperSampler. It’s nearly impossible when doing it the SuperSplinter way. This is a job for your own personal film scanner.

Scanning

Bump up your Dpi by one interval to get every inch of that beautiful grain (just like 110 film). Have fun making sense of the overlapped chaos… you wanted MX anyways so you got it.

In Summary

Theoretically, the SuperSplinter should yield around 96 images with a 24 roll and 144 images using a 36 roll. I was able to retrieve 59 with a 24 roll on my first try. Hopefully this has inspired you thrifty Lomographers out there to splinter your own SuperSampler!

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